viking-sword

Soon as I finished reading that I got up and took my best forging hammer, took it to my best anvil, and let her ring three times. Not a bad tradition to start for those fallen, and got up flyin! He will be missed!

"Very first class", a really nice balance to that set, all the way! Wes

Lith, These guys all make a really good point so I can't expound on alternative burners except to say that I've made my share of burners from many different plans, back when I had time to fiddle with it, and I enjoy doing that, alot. I now own and use three T-rex's and a shorty burner and can only say that there came a time for methat I wanted to do my forge work and knifemaking more than building different equipment to see what might work best for me, and at that point in time I had the money, so I bought the T-rex burners, and I've personally never regreted it for a moment for many reasons. I've never had a problem with them, adjustments are easy, light up is easy and temp control is very easy, they also come up to forging temp pretty fast. The only draw back for me is sometimes I am challenged with maintaining cooler temps with the T-rex, which is why I also bought a Shorty burner, and I use this for a very small forge for forging real delicate pieces and for some heat treating applications. This is just my two cents for what it's worth to ya! Wes By the way, in case your wondering, I use One T-Rex burner for common forge and two of them for my double burner damascus forge.

Just finished up this knife which was supposed to be for a customer who had to back out of the order due to financial problems. The 4 inch blade is of 52100, differentially heat treated with a steel guard and curly maple handle decorated with fine silver wire. It also comes with a woodlined leather sheath. Enjoy, Wes

Though I don't know if this will help much, I have for the last year been using my 4 and 6 inch post vises with springs from large leghold traps. when I bought replacement springs for the traps I simply took a pair of springs, one inside the other, and set them in place where the normal spring would have gone, they work just fine, and someday soon I'll make proper replacements for both of them. Most good spring steels used for this application must be fully hardened and then tempered at a higher temperature than most common ovens will reach, hence the burning oil method is still used by most folks, and though messy, it's usually very successful. Most folks have a hard time finding a receptical for the oil temper, but I've found that by taking the hardened spring, a quart or three of oil, and an old metal car hubcap, without any holes in it of course, out to a lakeside or country road, and doing this it's not so offensive to anyone. Hope this helps! VS

Being an old farm boy from the midwest, I'd have to say that looks like a counter weight for a tractor that we used to use to keep the front end of the tractor on the ground while plowing heavy soils. They were designed to slip on easily. They came in all kinds of shapes. Of course, I've never seen an elevator counter weight, so I could not say if it was not used for this or not. It certainly looks like a usefull tool in the blacksmith shop!

Poured concrete, grocery store bagger & manager, USAF 6 years,hunter/tracker for govt (don't ask, cause I can't tell), 22 years a postal carrier, and now a fulltime knifemaker and blacksmith.

No repy here either! viking-sword

Thanks Glenn! I sent a pm to trying-it.

I too would like more info on this hammer. I looked up the posted site and It's a dead stick, looks like it was just outlined and left, no info, no pics. So if I could I'd like some further info. I'd also like to ask you about the treadle hammer you built for Lady Smith(Pam, I guess is her name). I saw her post pics of a treadle hammer on Don Foggs web site and I'm wondering if this was built from a set of plans and if so what plans they might be? I'd be most greatful for any help you could give! viking-sword

Hello all, Im new to this site, but not new to the craft, and I have to say it's a relief to find a site such as this. I have checked out alot of them and found most not worth investing alot of time in, but I have enjoyed perusing here. have been forging for about 20 years(mostly in the form of knives) but also decorative hardware. I now make my living as a fulltime knifemaker in Kodiak, Alaska, an Island a hundred plus miles off the coast of mainland Alaska, so our motto tends to be "if ya didn't bring it here you probably wont find it". Being in the middle of the Pacific means that most things you find here are either stainless, galvanized, or aluminum, basically a blacksmiths nightmare. Anyway, I run a pretty well equipped shop, and I'm still always learning something new, but I hope I can contribute as well. viking-sword